If you go back and read my post “Double duty,” you’ll remember that today was the day that I had very little time to travel from the 9:00 am service at Nuuanu Congregational Church in order to arrive at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church to play their 10:30 am service. Even though typically the Nuuanu service lasts about an hour, I was worried that I would not make it in time to play the opening hymn at St. Mark’s. I had arranged in advance to have the organ closed up by others to give me a few extra minutes. I even parked my car in the parking lot close to the exit.

Today, however, the service ran extraordinarily long, and the liturgist even checked in with me when by 10:00 am, we hadn’t even gotten to the Offertory. Luckily the choir sang today so their piano accompanist was on board to play the Doxology and final hymn if necessary.

Someone had suggested that I not change out of my organ shoes, and unfortunately, this possibility was not even in the equation because it was raining and there were puddles! I learned decades ago that it is impossible to play the pedals with wet shoes! So I had no choice but to change into my street shoes.

So after I finished playing my Offertory (about 10:15 am) I took off like a shot, and ran to my car. When I touched the door handle, my heart sank when I realized with horror that I had left my car keys on the organ! There was no time to waste, and so I had to run back, dreadfully conscious that everyone was looking at me. It was 10:21 when I finally headed down the Pali Highway towards the H-1 Freeway.

Wouldn’t you know it, I got to my car and headed for the exit, only to see a long line of cars coming up the Pali Highway. Better to not be in an accident, I told myself, so I had to wait patiently for the lane to clear so I could make a U-turn towards town. I watched the minutes tick down as I drove as fast as it was safe, but still it was 10:33 am when I ran up to the organ loft at St. Mark’s. I could hear singing and I was still outside!

I dumped my purse on the organ bench and immediately my keys flew out and fell underneath the pedals. I changed my shoes and slid onto the bench. Oops! I almost slid off because I happened to wear a new pair of slacks which had a very slippery surface. It didn’t help that Tom Soplinski, St. Mark’s regular organist, had just cleaned and sanitized the keyboard and bench! Thanks, but ….

It turns out that I missed out on playing the opening hymn, the Asperges and the Introit in the three minutes of arriving late! And guess what was the opening hymn: SINE NOMINE, which they had to sing “a cappella” (!) I can’t even imagine singing that hymn “a cappella” as it starts with a downbeat from the organ!

Mike Dupré, the cantor, said that it wasn’t a problem to sing those pieces “a cappella,” but I still was in panic mode for not arriving on time. Luckily, there were several empty parking spaces in the parking lot, so at least I didn’t have to look for parking!

I’ll do this again next Sunday, and the first three weeks of August.

Ah me, I’m too old for this stress!